In communication networks, it is generally desirable to prevent service outages and/or loss of network traffic. By way of example, such service outages and/or loss of network traffic may occur when a network device fails, loses power, is taken offline, is rebooted, a communication link to the network device breaks, etc.
In order to prevent such service outages and/or loss of network traffic, the communication networks may utilize inter-chassis redundancy (ICR). In an ICR system, there are typically two ICR devices (i.e., nodes). During normal operation, one ICR device is configured to be in active state while the other is configured to be in standby state. The active ICR device is responsible for handling network traffic with a plurality other network devices, including, for example, allocating Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to such other network devices.
When the active ICR device fails, a switchover occurs. As used herein, a switchover refers to the ICR devices switching roles. For example, the active ICR device becomes the standby ICR device, and the standby ICR device takes over the role of being an active ICR device. In order for the switchover to occur seamlessly, the ICR devices must continuously stay in sync with each other by transmitting state information among the ICR devices. The state information are transmitted as part ICR messages over a transport channel. Conventionally, the ICR messages are sent in clear text. In cases where the ICR devices are geographically dispersed, the ICR messages are susceptible to being compromised.